1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



not been seen in print. You need not look for 

 Alley in a bar-room, nor will you find him in the 

 shade of a tree sucking an old pipe. 



Say to Rambler that there is fourt(>en months 

 difference iu the ages of the "twins" he has 

 pictured "eating"' honey. These two little 

 queers take a good deal of my time. They get 

 •■ grandpa" up pretty early in the morning — a 

 good deal earlier, sometimes, than he wants to 

 get up. n. Ali.ky. 



Weuham, Mass. 



[We are exceedingly glad, friend A., to know 

 that you ai'e not a tobacco-user. l*erhaps I got 

 my wrong inipi-ession fi-om the fact that some 

 one mentioned youi- using large quantities of 

 tobacco in smoking your bees. We ai'e glad to 

 know that you are on our side of both kinds of 

 temperance — whisky and tobacco.] 



SOMETHING FOR FLORIDA BEE-KEEI'KRS. 



As we bee-keepers in Florida have no paper 

 that reaches, perhaps, more bee-keepers inter- 

 ested in making an effort to pi-epare for an ex- 

 hibit at the World's Fair at Chicago than 

 Gleanings, if permissible I should like to hear 

 personally from each Florida reader who is a 

 bee-keeper, as to what he thinks of forming a 

 State Bee-keepers' Association atas early adate 

 as possible, to meet at the capital of the State 

 some time during the session of the legislature, 

 so that, if possible, we might prevail on it for 

 some assistance in making and caring for such 

 an exhibit; and.further,to state what amount of 

 honey and fixtures you each could prepare for 

 exhibition. We shall certainly have to unite, 

 first, in a State association of bee-keepers be- 

 fore we can arrange for an exhibit that would 

 call forth any thing like the resources of the 

 State. I should like to hear the views of all the 

 Florida bee-keepers in this matter. It is none 

 too soon to begin the preparation. 



.John Crayckaft. 



Aster Park, Fla., Feb. :.'8. 



FEEDING BEES ARTIFICIAL POI,LEN WHILE IN 

 THE hive; an INTERESTING CASE. 



It seems as if we were going to have a late 

 spring, and a bad time for bees to carry in pol- 

 len; and why not take a hint from the following 

 circumstance and put tlour on the top of the 

 hives for pollen ? My father is SO odd years old, 

 and he told me that one of his neighbors, some 

 70 years ago, set a log hive of bees in an old bar- 

 rel half full of wheat, to keep them out of the 

 cold; and when he took them out of th<^ barrel 

 in the spring they were all right, and had eaten 

 the wheat under the hive until the bran was 

 two or three inches deep. 



J. D. Whittenburg. 



Marshfield. Mo.. March 3. 



[Friend W., your story sounds pretty strong, 

 and yet it may be true. When bees are desti- 

 tute of pollen they will take hold of a great 

 variety of substances ; and as they eat wheat 

 flour with avidity when put out in the open air. 

 it is possible that they learn how to dig the 

 flour out of the wheat and thus raise brood.] 



PAINTED CLOTH AN EXCELLENT SUBSTITUTE 

 FOR TIN. 



I see there have been some inquiries in regai'd 

 to painted cloth for hive-covers; and not seeing 

 any thing from any one who has used painted 

 cloths, I ventui'e to give my experience with it. 

 Four years ago I was making some chaff hives; 

 and not having lumber wide enough for half 

 the roof. I used narrow boards and painted 

 them. Then I tacked on some Atlantic A 

 sheeting on the green paint, then painted the 



sheeting. I have painted them once since. 

 They have been exposed to the weather, winter 

 and summer, ever since, and I consider them 

 good for a good while yet, so far as the cloth is 

 concerned. In these times of high tariff' on tin. 

 I think it would be well for those who use tin 

 for hive-covers to try a few cloth ones and keep 

 them painted. If tliey do, I think they will be 

 pleased with the result. I also believe it would 

 make a better roof for dwellings than a good 

 deal of this roofing that is advertised. If Dr. 

 Miller will try painted cloth he will find it far 

 superior to oil cloth. John Anderson. 



Oriskany Falls, N. Y., Feb. ~*8. 



[You have given just the fact we wanted. 

 Now. who else can testify? So far the evi- 

 dence shows that i)ainted cloth will answer. 

 But the great thing in its favor is cheapness, 

 tariff' or no tariff'. Painting the wood first, be- 

 foie the cloth is tacked on, might have the 

 eft'ect of gluing it so firmly to the wood that it 

 would be less likely to receive tears or injury.] 



MICHKfAN .VPIARIES; STATISTICS FOR 1889-'!)0. 



According to the Michigan Crop Repoi't of 

 Jan. 1, 1891. the farm statistics for 1889-'90 re- 

 turned last spring by supervisors furnish the 

 following figures: The number of apiarists in 

 the State in the spring of 18VK) was 59(33. The 

 number of colonies of bees on hand in the fall 

 of 1889 was 77,(502, and the number at the time 

 of taking the assessment last spring was (58,404. 

 The number of colonies wintered in cellars was 

 17,169; in chaff hives, :28,4:*4; in bee-houses, 

 5(5(5; covered with sawdust, 31(5; otherwise pro- 

 tected, 1810; with no protection, 31,987; protec- 

 tion not reported, 7330. 



In 1889.(58.440 colonies made 1,192,112 lbs. of 

 comb honey, and 23.349 colonies produced 271.- 

 .5(54 lbs. of extracted honey. The number of lbs. 

 of wax produced in 1889 was 9(525. 



Compared with the statistics of the previous 

 year there is an increase of 141(5 in the number 

 of apiarists; of 23,744 in the number of colonies 

 on hand in the fall, and of 22,891 in the number 

 on hand in the spring. The quantity of comb 

 honey produced in 1889 was (532,310 lbs. greater 

 thanreported for 1888, and the quantity of ex- 

 tracted honey was 173,9(54 lbs. greater in the 

 latter than in the former year. 



Concord, Mich. Manly Shotwell. 



[There (if reliable, and we should think they 

 were not far from right), these statistics are in- 

 teresting and valuable. What is the reason 

 that other States don't do likewise? If they 

 did we could then know pretty accurately the 

 number of colonies, etc.. in the United States. 

 On an average, then, each Michigan bee-keep- 

 er owned, in 1890, 13 colonies. In 1889 he se- 

 cured on an average, from each colony. 17 lbs. of 

 C(nnl) linney and 11 lbs. of extracted per colony, 

 oi- 2S ll)s. of honey in all: but 1889 was a rather 

 poor season all over the conntiy, especially for 

 Michigan.] 



THICK TOP-BARS USED SUCCESSFULLY FOR 

 EIGHT YEARS. 



Tlua'B has been considerable said in tJLEAX- 

 iNGs for and against heavy top-bars. I will 

 give you my testimony in favor of them. When 

 1 comm<Miced be(;-keeping I made twenty-five 

 hives, all with heavy top-bar frames. With 

 -tlie increase of my apiaiy. and other work, I 

 did not have time to make the hives I wanted, 

 so I ordeied 30 Simplicity hives, so I had two 

 kinds of top-bais. The heavy wore >8 by 1 

 inch, spaced 1^ from center to center, with % 

 space between frames and super. I used it six 

 seasons and never was bothered with burr or 



